24 [Assembly 



around him was gorgeous with its varied hues. The country was 

 still in possession of the savage Indians, save an occasional spot 

 where the adventurous pioneer had fixed his cabin. In the valley 

 beneath his feet was the ravine where the battle of Oriskany was 

 fought, in many respects the most fierce and sanguinary struggle 

 of the revolutionary war, and he saw as he passed along, the 

 ground strewed with the broken and shattered implements of war 

 and the unburied remains of the brave German settler and of his 

 savage foe, in many instances fixed in each others dying grasp. 



Three score years and ten, the brief period allotted to the life 

 of man, have rolled away, and what have been their result to the 

 feeble settlements of whites and to the remarkable confederacy of 

 Indian tribes who, before the advent of the Europeans without 

 superiority of weapons, or knowledge of the sciences, solely by 

 bravery and courage, held in av/e and subjection, a greater extent 

 of country than was ever before conquered by an equal number 

 of warriors in any period of the world's history. 



In the cemetery which adjoins this field you will see a boulder 

 of white sienite which you would ordinarily pass by without notice, 

 but which the simple faith and traditions of the savage taught him 

 to regard with superstitious reverence, and which he believed to 

 be the palladium of the fortunes of his j;ribe. From it was de- 

 rived the name of the Oneida tribe, (which signifies "the children 

 of the white stone,") one of the powerful clans of the "Six Na- 

 tions," who possessed this region and gave their name to this coun- 

 ty. This rude stone that was supposed to have some mysterious 

 connection with the origin of their tribe, that during the period 

 of their prosperity was used on occasions of solemn assemblages 

 as a sacrificial altar, now stands in yonder burial place, the ^ole 

 monument of their departed greatness and of the extinction of 

 their race, and is all that is left to remind you of these brave and 

 powerful people. 



How has it fared with the white man who then deemed it an 

 adventurous thing to make his home in these valleys? Place 

 yourself on yonder eminence where George Washington stood 

 seventy years since and pondered over the future destiny of this 

 region and mark the chan2:e. The forest has been swept away, 



